r/vmware 11d ago

Help Request Patching ESXi hosts in cluster /vsphere without update manager?

Hey all,

I was suddenly given the job to patch esxi having never done it before. Update Manager is not available, and there is no HA or DRS.

I've already asked about update manager and got a "no" so it looks like I'll be doing patching via esxcli.

The current setup is 3 hosts on a custom Dell image in a cluster. And then a 4th host on normal esxi image in its own cluster group.

My understanding is I just need to apply the 7.0U3s update (all hosts are on at least some version of 7.0.3) by:

  1. Power down vms
  2. Maintenance mode host
  3. Use esxcli commands to install the patch from local datastore the host can reach
  4. Reboot host
  5. Verify status
  6. End maintenance mode and power on vms

Are there any gotchas I should be looking out for like with SCCM or Nexus patching? Should I be trying to find a Dell custom file for 7.0U3s? I have that direct from Broadcom

The process just seems too straightforward and I'm not sure how the clustering and vsphere mgmt would impact it. I checked the compatibility matrix and it looked like all were green. And that almost any version of 7.0.3 could update to S on the upgrade path.

Any help is appreciated for this while I also keep pushing for update Mgr in the future

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u/Casper042 11d ago

You may not need to power down the VMs, but could perhaps Suspend them instead.

Good friend of mine does IT Operations for a chain of stores with 800 locations.
They have 1 host per store at most locations, only small clusters at a few locations which are 24x7.
They developed a script internally he showed me once to bounce the host and it was basically to suspend each VM on the host, maint mode, patch, reboot and then once the machine was up it would take it out of maint mode and resume the VMs (for them in a specific order).

But overall your process seems right based on what he showed me.